Apparently Europe finally got Whatsapp to enable 3rd party chats making it easier to switch to more privacy friendly alternatives article However the only other app that currently works with it is “BirdyChat”??

Have anybody found any news about when serious alternatives will be integrated?

  • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
    7·
    1 month ago

    Have anybody found any news about when serious alternatives will be integrated?

    …never? They’re not integrated because they don’t want them integrated. This is malicious compliance. Even if they were, the opt-in nature would make it completely useless. Much like Apple’s RCS integration.

    • mattreb@feddit.itOP
      3·
      1 month ago

      yeah this is pretty much what I was thinking, but I made the post just because I was really hoping this was not the case…

  • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
    11·
    1 month ago

    The Birdy app requires a work email, which then gets you on a wait list, so that you can subject yourself to their data mining:

    Data Categories:

    • The email address you use as username on BirdyChat network;

    • Your messages and media within messages;

    • User identifiers for blocked WhatsApp users;

    • Usage information including timestamps related to your communication with WhatsApp users;

    • Device and connection information such as IP address, operating system information and the BirdyChat version you are using;

    • General location information using your IP address;

    • Authentication information including encryption keys that WhatsApp encryption protocol uses;

    • WhatsApp user reports in case a WhatsApp user chooses to share this information with WhatsApp.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    I’m already using a matrix bridge for it because I can’t get some cousins to move natively to Matrix. But if that would make it more stable it would be appreciated.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    11·
    1 month ago

    I’m going to setup my own open source chat server soon and just give the few people that need to talk to me a copy of the open source client. That you can use to talk to me, the rest will be gone

    I’m sooooo fucking tired of every company and government wanting to inspect my asshole just so they know that toilet paper to advertise to me or to be sure that I’m “not a terrorist or a pedophile because the government totally is doing this to protect the children, absolutely!!!”

    Fuck your lies

    Fuck your marketing

    And apologies for my French, I’m just reeeeeeaaaally done with this nonsense

    • themurphy@lemmy.ml
      141·
      1 month ago

      apperently meta gets to pick it, and it is not a public api.

      No they dont, and it’s a public modified Matrix-protocol. Why would you lie about that?

      The problem is that WhatsApp can demand third parties to meet very high standards, making it impossible for independent actors to gain access to this.

      You need a pretty well run machinery to live up to the standard, but if they do, WhatApps can legally not deny access.

      If they do, it’s in violation of the DMA, which gives you a 10% of all global income in fees.

      These has been used against Meta and Google before, and there’s no reason to believe they wont do it again. They actually live up to it.

      • bartleby1@lemmy.ml
        4·
        1 month ago

        WhatsApp was originally built on, and still is, a forked version of XMPP. It is nothing like the matrix protocol.

        • themurphy@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 month ago

          It’s not, but they made a WhatsApp API for the DMA. There’s a Matrix bridge to WhatsApp.

          • bartleby1@lemmy.ml
            1·
            1 month ago

            I understand the DMA interop thing quite well, and it is a private API. The matrix bridge does not use official interop as the Matrix foundation has given up on plans to do interop, as it requires geolocating (and then georestricting) their users.

            The current, longstanding, matrix bridge requires you to have the WhatsApp app installed on your phone, with a working account.

            • pedroapero@lemmy.ml
              1·
              30 days ago

              From my understanding, this bridge does use some the official WhatsApp web client’s API. You only need to connect the official app once in a while (a few seconds every two weeks) and can do so on a separate device.

        • themurphy@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 month ago

          Signal wont do it because they cant use their own protocol. You still have to use WhatsApps, which makes it flawed.

          I also hope for good clients, but maybe the rules will change further before there’s any real use case for it. Maybe it’s too expensive compared to making your own?

    • bartleby1@lemmy.ml
      2·
      1 month ago

      You’re correct, it is not a public API. In fact, just to see the specs, you need to be either an organization (or an indie developer) registered in the EU and have to sign a massive NDA just to get the documentation!